NYC Prepares For Hunger Crisis Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

NEW YORK CITY — New York City, facing a hunger crisis unlike any its seen before, will invest $170 million to amp up its free food services, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Wednesday.

De Blasio's "Feeding New York" program triples the number of free meals the city provides, hires 11,000 licensed taxi drivers to deliver food and buys $50 million worth of shelf-secure meals to keep in stock for a future crisis.

"For more and more New Yorkers, people are literally asking, 'Where is my next meal coming from?'" de Blasio told reporters. "And this is just the beginning."

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Newly-appointed Food Czar Kathryn Garcia detailed the five-point plan which also includes expanding resources for truck drivers, who deliver 90 percent of the city's food, and grocery store workers.

Grocery shoppers will be required to wear face coverings inside supermarkets and store owners can call police on those who refuse to comply.

"If there is any problem with that, of course the NYPD will help," de Blasio said. "This is another one of the things we have to do. "

The city will also open rest stops in Staten Island and Hunts Points for truck drivers and is preparing its Small Business Services department to provide support to grocery stores, which NYPD data show have shut down in vast numbers.

Police visited more than 54,000 grocery stores and pharmacies between March 23 and April 13 and found 27,648, more than half of them, closed.

"People have been sick or people have been afraid," said Garcia. "We need to prevent store closures."

Food pantries and soup kitchens will receive $25 million in funding to amp up their supplies and staff, according to the Mayor's office.

Resources for food insecure New Yorkers:

• Sign up for New York City's free food delivery program here
• Call 311 and say, “Get Food.”
• Find food resources in your neighborhood through this Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center guide.

Before the COVID-19 crisis, 1.2 million New Yorkers and one in five children were food insecure, de Blasio said.

The Mayor's press office did not respond to Patch's request for more information about projected food insecurity in the months to come.

The Independent Budget Office reported Tuesday New York City will lose $9.7 billion in tax revenue and shed 475,000 jobs in this fiscal year.

"People are running out of money every single day," de Blasio said during the conference. "We expect it to grow."

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